Narrated slide show (15 min.), presented at the 2023 Global Virtual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature. 

ABSTRACT: Is Biblical Aramaic among the languages that have a situating noun for persons? Yes, for it has the noun גְּבַר. In all 21 instances, that noun is employed to (re)situate its referent in the audience’s mind, or to hold that referent fixed while otherwise altering the situation. (Prototypically, a situating noun is used to sketch a situation of interest in terms of its participants. This type of noun regards its referent as a defining participant in that situation, rather than in terms of inherent qualities. This linguistic device enables the audience to quickly draw a mental picture of the situation.) Furthermore, several usages of גְּבַר that are anomalous when it is viewed as an ordinary noun are normal for situating nouns. These functions and usages are diagnostic, alongside the quality of being a short and easy-to-pronounce word. Other roughly contemporaneous evidence, namely the Sefire Treaty and Elephantine documents, contain similar usages. Hence like אִישׁ in Biblical Hebrew, גְּבַר should be classified as a situating noun.

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